Pre-Wedding Scenes
by Westing1992
Summary: Brief scenes that take place during the lead-up to Ruby and Sapphire's wedding.
1. Nanefua

"Hello, Steven," Mayor Nanefua said as the boy entered her office. "What can I do for you?"

"Two of my friends are getting married, and they want me to be the… host?... of the wedding."

"Sure, I can probably grant you the power to officiate. Who's getting married?"

"Garnet."

"Ah, she's the tall one with the afro, correct? Who's she marrying?"

"Herself. Well, it's actually Ruby and Sapphire who are getting married, but they make up Garnet… it's hard to explain. Are you familiar with fusion?"

"I'm guessing you don't mean funky jazz."

Steven gave a quick explanation of the situation. "And so now they've decided to get married, so they can be together even if they're apart!"

Nanefua frowned. "Hmm. That might be a problem."

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Well, the state has to issue a marriage license, but both parties have present a birth certificate or other proof of identity first. But if they've been living as Garnet all this time…"

"Yeah, well, Gems aren't even born as such. Though I guess the day they emerged from their hole in the ground is similar. But that was long before Beach City was even founded, let alone started keeping records."

"Are they even technically citizens?"

"Well, Pearl wasn't. That's why she doesn't have a driver's license, even though she drives sometimes."

"Please don't mention stuff like that to the mayor."

"Okay. But why do they even need a license? Can't I just point to them and say, 'Bam! You're married'?"

"I suppose you could, but the government needs to recognize the union for them to obtain the legal benefits of marriage. For example, the ability to file tax returns jointly."

"Yeah… I don't think any of them have ever paid taxes."

"There's also hospital visitation rights, and insurance."

"Gems don't get sick or injured. If their physical form is damaged, they retreat into their gem, and if that cracks or is shattered… well, human hospitals won't help."

"Hmm. And you say they've been cohabiting for thousands of years already?"

"Sharing the same house, body, and mind."

"So why are they even getting married?"

"Because they love each other."

Nanefua shrugged. "I suppose that makes sense. I'll see what I can do."


	2. Peridot

"Which set of appearance modifiers do you think would look better on me, Steven?" Peridot asked, holding up two dresses. "This yellow one, or this one slightly different shade of yellow?"

"They both look great," Steven commented.

"I suppose it was asking too much of you to form an opinion that required you to be negative about something," Peridot said. She looked over her two choices again. "I feel this one complements my color scheme better."

"If you say so."

It was just that morning that Peridot had come back to the temple, having spent an inordinate amount of time gardening, to find Garnet unfused.

"They're going to get married," Steven explained.

Peridot nodded indifferently. "But what exactly prompted this?" she asked.

"It's sort of a long story…"

Steven had barely managed to finish explaining how Pink Diamond had faked her shattering before Peridot interrupted with an annoyed rant.

"Of course! Of _course_ the leader of the rebellion against Pink Diamond would be Pink Diamond herself! And of course she would eventually give up her physical form to give birth to a half-human hybrid! Why wouldn't she? This is _Earth_ , where Pearls can be tacticians, Quartzes can be runts, and every single other thing is topsy-turvy! And now that the permafusion found out that their leader was their enemy and their enemy their leader, they decide to get married! Makes perfect sense!"

"There were a few more steps between those two things…"

"Whatever, I don't care. I've already had my worldview completely shattered like, five times by this point, so I'm just going to not question anything from now on."

Steven didn't press her.

So they started on planning the wedding. Greg took Sapphire and Amethyst to get tuxedos fitted, while Ruby and Peridot opted to buy dresses, with Steven going along to they didn't get into any trouble.

Ruby came out of the dressing room with a white dress on. "You think Sapphire will like this?" she asked.

"I'm sure she'll love anything you wear," Steven said.

"No, she'll love _me_ ," Ruby said crossly. "What I need is a dress she'll like even if I weren't the one wearing it." She grabbed another from the rack. "I'd better try more on, just to make sure."

Peridot watched as Ruby went back into the dressing room, then turned to Steven. "I'll be glad when they fuse again," she said. "Seeing them separate like that makes me _incredibly_ uncomfortable."

Steven laughed.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Back when you first started working with us to stop the Cluster, you wanted Garnet to _un_ fuse because you were uncomfortable!"

"Yes, well-" Peridot paused, trying, but failing, to come up with a sensible justification for her shift in behavior. "I've decided on this one," she stated, and began walking out of the store carrying one of the yellow dresses.

"Peridot! Wait!" Steven said, chasing after her. "We have to pay for that!"


	3. Jamie

"Hey, Jamie! Hey, Barb!" Steven said.

The two postal workers looked up from their mail sorting. "Oh, hey, Steven!" Barb said. "What brings you here?"

Steven held up a stack of envelopes. "I have some letters that need to be mailed."

"But why'd you come up here?" Jamie asked. "I could have picked them up when went down to your house on my rounds." He thought for a moment. "Though I guess you don't have a mailbox I could easily pick it up from."

"Yeah, I figured it'd just be easier to take them directly here. Plus, you don't really need to deliver two of them."

"Why not?" Jamie asked.

"Because one's for you," Steven said, handing Jamie an envelope. He turned to Barb. "And one's for you."

"Me?"

"Well, you and your daughter. We figured one per household would be enough." He set the rest down on the table and pondered them. "I suppose I could probably deliver the rest of these myself, too. Well, except to the Maheswarans' house. Or I actually could using Lion, I guess. But I shouldn't waste too much time when there's still so much to prepare."

"Prepare for what?"

"A wedding, apparently," Jamie said, having opened his letter.

"A wedding?" said Barb. She leaned over to read Jamie's invitation. "Between… Ruby and Sapphire? I don't know those people."

"Yes you do!" Steven said. "Well, okay, you don't. Or maybe technically you do… At the very least, they know you, but you know them better as Garnet."

"I don't follow."

"Um… you're not familiar with the concept of fusion, are you?"

"I'm guessing you're not talking about the funky jazz," said Jamie.

"Well, it's a thing with Gems - and I guess half-gems, and humans and half-gems - where two or more of them are so in sync with each other that they turn into one person. They might do this for several reason, like to fight, or become stronger, or reach the pedals of a car, but in Garnet's case, she usually stays fused because Ruby and Sapphire love each other so much. And now, due to recent personal insights that I won't bother trying to explain, they're getting married!"

"I see," Barb said in a tone that wasn't entirely convincing. "Well, then," she said, putting her part of the mail into her bag, "we should get these delivered so everyone has time to prepare for the wedding. Make sure you lock up behind you, Jamie." With that, she left.

Jamie turned to Steven. "So… Garnet is actually two people?"

"It's a bit more complicated than that, but basically."

"And these people are both female?"

"More or less, yes."

"And they're in love each other."

"That's why they're getting married."

"How long have then been together?"

"Over five thousand years."

Jamie sighed. "I never had even a remote chance, did I?"

"Nope."


	4. Andy

"Hey, Andy," Greg said over the phone. "It's your cousin."

"Hey Greg, what's up? You need me to fly you Korea again?" Andy laughed. "Kind of strange how you didn't need me to fly you back."

"Er, well, we took other modes of transportation… look, don't worry about that."

"So, why'd you call?"

"Well, you know all of Steven's mother's friends? Well, two of them, Ruby and Sapphire, are getting married."

"To each other?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, I figured them for a bunch of lesbians. Okay, I don't know if that's entire fair or whatever, but…"

"No, that's more or less accurate."

"Right, right. So, two of them are getting married. You call me just to tell me that?"

"Sort of; they'd like you to attend the wedding."

"What, me? But we barely know each other. I mean, Ruby and Sapphire? I don't even remember which two those were."

"Well, you technically haven't met them. But they've met you, as Garnet. It's sort of hard to explain. I don't suppose you're familiar with the concept of fusion?"

"I'm guessing you're not talking about that funky jazz."

"I'm actually surprised you knew there a music genre by that name."

"Well, I prefer bebop, but… hey, it's not that I'm entirely adverse to everything hippies and beatniks make! Just most of it."

"Well, the fusion I'm talking about is- it doesn't matter. The important thing is, you're like, one of twenty humans they know, so they invited you. You don't have to attend if you don't want. I mean, especially since you don't live nearby or anything…"

Andy sighed. "You know, Aunt Deb invited to her wedding, too. I didn't attend, though. I… wasn't comfortable. Not yet. And I know if I went, it would've just made things awkward… but still, I regret not going."

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't go either."

"Yeah, but no one knew where you were. And now with Deb and Linda driving around the country in that RV, it's hard to tell where they are either. Maybe I should try to track them down, and maybe round up any other family I can find, arrange a big reunion."

"Yeah! I haven't seen any of them but you in ages. And they don't even know about Steven."

"Or his aunts. But I'll have to wait for all that until after the wedding."

"So you will come?"

"I mean, yeah. They're basically my family now, too."

"Will you be able to make it in time?"

"Yeah, it's only a four-hour flight." He chuckled. "I guess, ever since I started flying, it's been hard to tell where I am either. I guess the DeMayos are just a family of drifters."

Greg laughed. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Really makes me wonder why I cared so much about that barn in the first place. Speaking of, how's that holding up?

"Er… yeah… about that…"


	5. Lapis

Lapis flew aimlessly through space. It had been a few days since Steven had encountered her on the moon and she had decided to leave for good.

She had no idea where she was going.

She was debating with herself for the millionth time whether she had overreacted when she caught sight of something heading in her direction. She quickly hid behind a nearby asteroid.

A yellow ship, in the shape of an arm, sped by. Another arm, this one blue, soon followed.

The Diamonds. They were going to attack Earth. She was right.

Well, whatever punishment they were traveling to dole out, she wouldn't be there for it. She didn't know where she would be, exactly, but if would be far away. Maybe the Diamonds, and the rest of Homeworld, would forget about her after a few hundred years, and she could integrate herself back into Gem society. Sure, it was now different than what she was used to, but so was Earth.

Earth. They were likely going to finish what the Cluster had been intended to do. She didn't want to think about what they would do to the Crystal Gems… to Garnet, and Pearl, and Amethyst… and to Peridot. And to Steven.

No. It wasn't her fight. She never wanted to get involved in this conflict in the first place. And it wasn't like she owed them anything.

Yes, Steven had freed her from the mirror and healed her, but it was the Crystal Gems and their rebellion that had caused her to get in that situation to begin with. They had freed her from the prison she had made in Malachite, but she wouldn't have needed to had they just surrendered in the first place like she had wanted. And Peridot had forcibly interrogated her, and dragged her back to that miserable planet. So what if they had spent several months as barn mates, bonding over meepmorps and Camp Pining Hearts? So what if she had learned to appreciate the growth and cycles of the Earth? So what if she missed-

No! She wasn't going to get shattered, or worse, fighting a losing battle that wasn't her battle to fight! It shouldn't matter if that meant leaving behind her friends!

…her friends.

With a grudging sigh, she turned around and followed the ships back to Earth.


End file.
